My Pretend Husband
by Mikaze-sama
Summary: In order to find out the truth of his parents death, Sasori applies for work at a private school owned by the only living suspect of the case. But the school has a rule. Only married people can teach there. In comes Haruno Sakura, a woman who's in desperate need of money. It was all supposed to be just an act, but as each 28 day passes... She can't help but fall in love. SasoSaku
1. Chapter 1: The Job

**Title: **My Pretend Husband

**Pairing:** SasoSaku

**Full Summary:** Akasuna Sasori, in order to find out the truth of his parents death, applies for work at a private school owned by the only living suspect from the case.  
But the school has a rule. Only married people can teach there.  
And in comes Haruno Sakura, a woman who's in desperate need of money.  
It was all supposed to be just an act, but as each 28 day passes... She can't help but fall in love.

**I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.**

* * *

Haruno Sakura sighed as she flipped through the daily newspaper. Again, nothing. She groaned as she sank deeper into her red bean bag.

She had been jobless for two weeks, and the money she had from her last job won't last her for more than a week or so.

She didn't understand. During High School ad College she had been a straight-A student, and she had been quite confident she'll get a job at the nearby hospital, but her applications had all been rejected, so she settled to working at the café. It was only two weeks ago had she been fired along with a few others because there was a new owner.

And she needed to pay the rent! It was all so frustrating.

Sakura grabbed her laptop and turned it on, maybe she can find something online.

She searched through the list of jobs available. There was nothing that would suit her and most of the jobs she had no skills for, or it was too far away.

Sakura closed her laptop, and got up and stretched and looked at the time. It was just a few minutes past twelve and she made her way to the fridge and opened it. She made a face once seeing all the contents were an out of dat milk carton and a few bruised tomatoes.

"Looks like I'll have to take a trip to the market" she muttered as she shut the fridge.

The pinkette grabbed her keys that were lying on the kitchen counter and slipped on her green flats before leaving the apartment. The market was just down the street, and it has been a while since she last visited. Sakura had eaten with Ino for the last few weeks, but Ino had went with Shikamaru to see his parents for a while.

* * *

Sakura was in awe as soon as soon as the pinkette stepped inside the market.

They had completely revamped the place. Sakura wasn't sure where everything was now...

She shrugged and grabbed a basket nonetheless and headed for the aisles. But a few minutes later she was lost.

"Where are all the salt located?" She asked to herself as she wandered around. Lost in her thoughts she bumped into someone, and Sakura quickly apologised.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bump into you..."

Sakura's eyes widened. Sure she bumped into a guy, but this was admittedly, a really good-looking guy.

His half-lidded brown eyes glared at her.

Sakura gulped. But guess his personality isn't very pretty, eh?

"Um, do you know where the table salts are?" She asked hesitatingly.

The glare was replaced by an look of amusement.

"It's all the way on the other side of the supermarket"

"Oh" Sakura then winced at how stupid she must've sounded and looked.

The man sighed and ran a hand through his red hair.

"...Just follow me" He began to walk, and Sakura just stared after him. He turned his head

"Well? Are you going to follow?" He snapped impatiently.

Sakura hurried after him.

"There's no need to be so grumpy" she muttered, and the man gave her a glare.

They arrived at another aisles, and Sakura was definitely sure she had passed that one, how would've she missed it?

Sakura picked up a bag of salt and placed it in the basket.

The red haired man frowned

"Wait, didn't you say you wanted Table salt?"

"This is table salt, isn't it?" Sakura retorted.

"That's cooking salt" he said drily as he picked up the bag and placed it back on to the shelf and took a shaker.

"This is table salt" he threw it into her basket.

Sakura blinked "There's a difference?" She then clamped her mouth shut.

The man shook his head in disbelief "I feel for the poor fool who ends up marrying you"

Sakura's eyes widened and a offended look popped up onto her face

"Well I, Haruno Sakura, feel sorry for the poor woman who marries a jerk like you!"

The man rolled his eyes and walked away, but Sakura was definitely rue she heard him mutter "brat" as he passed her.

Sakura fumed, and stuck her tongue out at his retreating form.

Just then, her phone vibrated and she pulled it out from the pocket of her forest green jacket. There was a new job alert on a site she had been keeping an eye on.

"Pretend to be my wife for a month..." Sakura frowned.

It sounded pretty suspicious if she had to say so herself, but once her eyes saw the payment, she quickly filled in the application. And pressed send. As soon as she did that, she let go off the breath she had unknowingly been holding in. She quickly paid for the stuff and rushed back to her apartment and sat down on the couch. Her phone rang a few minutes later.

The text flashed onto the screen with words 'Congratulations, you've got the job-' Sakura quickly turned the power off.

...

What had she gotten herself into?

It's just for the money, she told herself.

* * *

As soon as Sasori left the market with what he needed in his hand, he heard the familiar ringtone and pulled his phone out from the pocket of his blue blazer.

"What do you want, Deidara?" He grumbled

"Hey danna! There's already someone who sent in an application, yeah!"

That perked Sasori's interest.

"Who is it?"

"Some chic named Haruno Sakura, age.."

Sasori stopped listening as soon as he heard the name.

_"Well I, Haruno Sakura, feel sorry for the poor woman who marries a jerk like you!"_

He smirked. Feel sorry for the woman who marries him, huh?

"She's got the job"

"Huh? But don't you think you'd want to wait to see-"

"Look, I said she got it, so she did" Sasori snapped.

"Well ok then, I'll go inform the unfortunate lady, yeah" Deidara muttered

Sasori ended the call and frowned. Why does everyone think it's unfortunate to marry him?

He got into his car. Haruno Sakura... He smirked to himself. Well, life's going to get interesting.

* * *

**Authors Note:** And that's all for the first chapter. First actual SasoSaku fanfiction I have ever wrote. I'm just a beginning writer as you can see, and I'm open for feedback for improvements and ideas.

And remember to review guys! It gives me a form of encouragement XD

**The next chaper should be up before Thursday.**


	2. Chapter 2: Meeting

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of the characters.

* * *

Sakura stared at the entrance to the bar and gulped nervously, checking the sheet of paper in her hands. Nope, she didn't get the address wrong. At least she didn't think so.

The word 'Akatsuki' lit up in red lights that flickered every now and then.

If she wasn't in such a desperate need of money, she wouldn't be stuck in this situation right now, she thought bitterly.

With a resigned sigh, she pushed the heavy door and was surprised by the fanciness of inside the bar. The room was lit up perfectly, smooth wooden counter and nicely arranged display of drinks.

Now all she needed to do was to find someone named Sasori. Where...

"Hey, are you Haruno Sakura, yeah?" A hand touched her shoulder, and she jumped in surprise.

Sakura spun around quickly "You surprised me..." She placed a hand on her chest to calm herself down before eyeing the man in front of her suspiciously.

"Wait a minute, how did you know my name?"

The blonde haired man waved his hands in front of him,

"Calm down, yeah. You're here because of the fake marriage thing right?"

Sakura blinked in surprise. Was this the guy she had to pretend to marry? If so, maybe that won't be too bad, he looked like a nice enough guy.

"Oh! Are you Akasuna Sasori?" She asked.

The blonde haired and blue eyed man blinked rapidly, before bursting out laughing.

Sakura tilted her head and stared at him in confusion.

"I'm sorry but... Did I say something funny?"

The laughter died down,

"Haha no... I'm not Sasori, I was just amused that you thought I was, yeah. I'm nothing like him"

Sakura frowned "If you're not Akasuna-san then how do you know my name and why I'm here?"

Deidara shrugged "We were going to come together, but he's got an errand to run and so he's running late"

"Oh..." Sakura trailed off, but then something dawned upon her "How did you know it was me?"

Deidara winked "Just a hunch... But the hair's a dead give away. Why pink?"

Sakura huffed "For you're information, it's natural"

Deidara looked skeptical, and was about to say something when someone interrupted the conversation.

"I hope you didn't fill the poor girl up with nonsense, Deidara"

The voice sounded familiar to Sakura, and it took a few seconds for her brain to click and she pointed at the red-haired man.

"You!" She exclaimed as she abruptly stood up from her seat.

Sasori glared at her "You're making a commotion"

Sakura glared back and bit her tongue before reluctantly sitting back down into the seat.

Sasori sat down besides Deidara, who spoke up "Well... Do you have any questions?"

The pinkette nodded "Oh yes, tons. In fact, how much do I get paid exactly? It only gave an estimate on the site"

"You'll be paid twenty thousand yen a week"

"What?!" That was a large sum of money for a week, what on earth was this guy's job?

Sasori must've sensed her surprised.

"There's nothing to be so shocked about" he drawled

"How can you say that?!" She screeched.

"Sasori's parents left him quite a big inheritance, yeah" Deidara intervened.

Sakura huffed. Of course, there's no way he could be so rich. Stupid jerk, throwing away his inheritance like that... Wait, if it was an inheritance...

"You're parents are dead?"

Sasori stiffened, before glaring at her "Do you have a problem with it?"

The pinkette winced, she must've hit a sensitive topic. The red-haired man's mood clearly darkening.

"Do you have any other questions, yeah?" Deidara quickly intervened.

Sakura nodded "Um, when do I start pretending to be... Your wife?" Sakura choked the last words out. It was so strange... She always imagined marrying someone she loves... But here she was, marrying someone as a job, even if it was fake. If only she wasn't in such desperate need of money. Her friend had hurried her about her debt as well.

Sasori's posture relaxed and he smirked,

"_Today_"

* * *

Sakura grumbled as she stuffed her clothing in a large mint green suitcase.

She had been told -more like ordered- that she'd be living with Sasori starting from today, the red head had driven her back to her apartment to pack her stuff. With a time limit too! But Sakura knew better than to test his patient, he was going to be her boss for a month after all. (Unfortunately).

A voice shouted impatiently from the outside,

"Are you done yet?"

Sakura scowled as she glared at the closed door.

"No!" She turned back to her packing "Impatient geezer"

"I heard that, you brat!"

Sakura slammed her suitcase shut with more force then necessary and picked it up before heading to the living room. Did she miss anything? No... Her eyes stopped at the phone. That's right! She needs to change the answering machine.

"Hello, this is Haruno Sakura. I'm currently away on... a job, and probably won't be back till a month. If you need something urgently, contact me on my cellphone. And Naruto, if you're listening to this, no, you cannot ransack my fridge"

* * *

This chapter is slightly shorter, but I'll post a second chapter later to make up for it.

Remember to review guys, it'll make my day!


	3. Chapter 3: Day One

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of the characters.

**Word Count:** 1,872

* * *

Sakura stared at the house in front of her, a mixture of surprise and relief bubbling inside her.

It was the complete opposite of what she had originally expected. She had imagined Sasori living in a large, fancy mansion, in a shady forest or something hidden far away. She mentally berated herself for thinking that. The house before her was completely normal. It was a simple two-story house with a balcony on the second floor, and a path leading to what she assumed could only be a garden.

"I thought you'd live in a mansion or something like that" She admitted.

Sasori gave her a short glance before making his way to the door.

"I don't need that much room" his response was short and simple.

Sakura followed him inside, and dropped her suitcase, baffled.

The living room has to be... The most, _plain_ room she had ever seen. The walls and carpet were both white, and the only furniture in the room was a large flat screen TV and a leather couch and table. Sakura noticed the withering plants by the stairs.

"Um, don't you think it's a bit... 'Empty' in here, Akasuna-san?" She asked nervously.

Sasori shrugged as he threw the car keys on to the glass table, "I hardly stay here anyways," he turned to her "the kitchen is that way... You can go make yourself some tea or whatever you want to drink" he then made his way to the stairs.

"Wait!" Sakura called out quickly, and the red-haired man turned his head

"What do you want?"

"Um, well," Sakura honestly didn't know why she called out. She guess she just didn't want to be down here by herself "where will I be staying?"

Sasori let out an exasperated sigh "In my room, duh"

Sakura was sure her eyes were as wide as saucers and that her jaw could have reached the ground.

"W-what?" She cried out.

The red-head rolled his eyes "What sort of married couple sleeps in different rooms? Don't fret, I'll take the couch at night"

Sakura calmed slightly "O-ok.."

Sasori smirked,

"Don't flatter yourself. As if I'd want to sleep with a brat like you" his tone was almost mocking.

The shock within the pinkette soon melted into fury.

"As if anyone would want to sleep with a jerk like you!"

"Now is that a tone you'd use at your boss?" He drawled.

Sakura shut her mouth immediately. The geezer did have a point, only slightly.

"I thought so"

She was sure she caught a smug look on Sasori's face before he disappeared up the stairs.

Sakura grumbled as she dropped her suitcase on the couch and made her way to where the kitchen was supposed to be.

The kitchen was plain as well, with marble counters and a metal sink. It had the normal things you'd find in a kitchen. The fridge, microwave, oven and a kettle. But other than that, there was nothing. Not even a vase of flowers or a basket of fruit.

She was further shocked as she looked through the basically empty fridge and cupboards. What did the guy eat everyday?

Finally finding the tea, she waited patiently for the kettle to finish boiling the water.

There was a window in the kitchen that allowed her to see outside and into the garden. The only few things in the garden was a small pond and large tree.

I wonder what type of tree is that? Sasori doesn't seem like the gardening type, she mused. An image of Sasori gardening popped into her head and she giggled. The whistling of the kettle quickly snapped her back into reality.

She quickly finished making her tea before she paused, should she make Sasori one and bring it up to him? Well, he was quite rude to her earlier, but they were going to live together for a month, so she supposed she could at least attempt to be friendly. With that thought in mind, she ventured upstairs with the teacup on a tray she had found in one of the cupboards.

Sakura stared at the many doors on top of the stairs. Four doors. Which one led to Sasori?

The pinkette shrugged, before knocking on the doors. She was on the third before she heard someone snap from behind her.

"What do you want now, brat?"

Sakura yelped in surprise, and dropped the tray in her hands, the teacup shattering into tiny pieces and the boiling liquid seeped through the thin fabric of her white slippers and onto her toes.

Sakura took a step back and winced as she felt the burning liquid on her toes.

Sasori frowned from behind her and Sakura quickly bowed apologetically.

"I'm sorry! I'll clean this up right away, I only wanted to give you some tea!" She squealed out.

The pinkette quickly crouched down to pick up the shattered pieces of the broken cup, before a pair of pale hands took the shards away from her hands.

"Huh?" Sakura looked up to see Sasori crouching down in front of her, picking up the pieces.

"I can do this, Akasuna-san!" Sakura insisted.

Sasori didn't look up as he spoke "I can do it, besides, you should go change your pants and your slippers"

Sakura blinked quickly and looked down, oh, she had spilt some tea on her jeans.

"Thank you Akasuna-san!" She got up and rushed downstairs to get her suitcase.

* * *

After changing her jeans and getting a new pair of slippers, Sakura hesitantly made her way up the stairs. The carpet was rid of all teacup shards, but the brown liquid stained the white carpet. She hoped she wouldn't end up cleaning that.

Sakura knocked on the last door she hadn't checked yet, and when she heard no response she opened the door slowly and walked in.

It was a study of some sorts, with book shelves lined up on all sides of the wall, a desk and that was all. There were a few paintings which hanged on the wall that Sakura found to be absolutely amazing.

"I didn't say you could come in" Sasori deadpanned from behind the desk.

Sakura frowned "I'm sorry, I was just checking up on you"

"I'm not a child. I can pick up a few broken cup pieces without cutting myself"

She huffed, what was with this guy? He was nice a while ago, and now he's back to Mr Grumpy.

"Well forgive me for being concerned"

Sasori glanced up at her before looking back down at whatever he was reading before.

Sakura frowned, he obviously wasn't going to say anymore.

She walked closer to the desk and looked at the folder he was reading. The pinkette frowned as Sasori snapped the folder shut and placed it inside a drawer.

He looked at her, and Sakura took this as a cue for her to speak, ignoring the annoyed look in those brown eyes.

"What type of tree is that in the back garden? You don't look like the gardening type," Sakura quickly added "no offence of anything"

Sasori stayed quiet, and it seemed he was deep in thought.

Sakura sighed, guess he wasn't going to tell her anything... She made her way to the door before she was stopped.

"My mother... Liked apple trees"

The pinkette turned, and the red-haired man sighed before reluctantly continuing.

"My mother and father... passed away in an _accident_ when I was five, so I never got to know them well..." Sasori glanced away, the wooden floor suddenly were most interesting "This tree used to belong at the home where I used to live with my parents. My mother really liked this tree, or at least that's what I remember. So before the old house was sold, I got them to move the tree over here"

"Wouldn't that be really troublesome?" Sakura questioned.

Sasori nodded, "And so is looking after it"

Sakura was deep in thought. That tree had obviously meant immensely to Sasori, but at the state it was in, it was obvious the guy didn't have time or didn't know how to take care of it.

"If you want, I can look after it for you" She offered.

Sasori looked at her, traces of surprise in those brown eyes, before they changed into suspicion.

"I won't pay you any extra for it, you know?"

Her eyes rolled "What do you take me for? I won't ask for any extra money, you're already paying me enough. And plus, you were willing to tell me about your parents..." She trailed off before adding the last part thoughtfully "Even if it was a little"

He shrugged "Do what you want, and plus," he looked at her, eyes making contact "it'll be weird if you didn't know about it. We are pretending to be married"

Oh yeah, that's right... After talking to him for a bit, she completely forgot about the pretend to be married thing.

"Speaking of which... Why do you need to pretend to have a wife? I thought you'd be the type who have woman fawn over you where ever you go"

Sasori smirked slightly "It is true. But I don't want someone who would be unwilling to leave once the month ends"

"I see... But it doesn't explain why you need to pretend to be married"

The smirk faltered and a sigh was heard, "I've applied for work at a private all girls school and you can only teach their if you're married"

"Why?"

"Over paranoid parents I guess, now would you be quiet and listen?"

"Sorry! Go on, I won't interrupt"

Sasori cleared his throat "Anyways, I said during my interview that I had recently just gotten married, but a few teachers there have sniffed around recently. And I can't get fired, not before I confirm something"

Sakura waited for him to say more, but he didn't, and she felt like she shouldn't pry any deeper so she left it at that. But she still felt a tug of disappointment at him not telling her more.

The pinkette smiled at him "Thank you for sharing all that with me, Akasuna-san"

Sasori shrugged before pulling out the folder and opening it up.

"By the way, what are we going to have for dinner?" She tilted her head as she asked.

"Just order take out or something" He didn't look up from the folder.

Sakura frowned, "Having takeout all the time isn't good for you!"

The red-head sighed in exasperation,

"If you want, you can go buy something from the supermarket tomorrow. But just order takeout for tonight"

Sakura nodded, only slightly satisfied with that response as she headed to the door.

"And Haruno?"

"Yea?"

"Don't forget to clean up that stain"

_Damn._

* * *

As soon as the pinkette left the room, Sasori placed the folder on to the desk and leaned back into the chair.

This was the only living suspect of the case, the one which claimed the live of his parents. The only remaining family members he had. Sasori glanced at the name on the folder,

"Suna Ebizo..." He narrowed his eyes "I **will** get the truth out of you, no matter what"

* * *

**Two Chapters in a day, basically because I felt the last chapter was way too short. **

**I greatly appreciate all those who have liked and are following this story. Thanks to all of you I'm motivated to continue writing. :)**

**The next chapter will be up before next week Wednesday (Or Thursday, depends on if I can manage my time probably) And we have cross-country tomorrow, please save me someone! .**

**But can any of you guess what type of "accident" Sasori's parents were involved in and who Ebizo is? (His last name is obviously fake...)**


	4. Chapter 4: Day Two

**Chapter 4. **

**I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.**

* * *

Light poured in from the gap between the curtains, causing Sakura to groan and bury her face deeper into the white pillow.

Somehow, the sheets seemed much more comfortable, and the pillow seemed much more soft than usual. And it smelled better too...

Sakura's eyes snapped open an she sat up abruptly.

There was more then one thing wrong with the situation. The room was too big, her bed was pink and closer to the door and who was that sleeping on the couch?

The events of yesterday rushed back into her mind as she caught sight of messy red hair.

Sakura slowly climbed out of the bed, with great reluctance and slowly moved to Sasori, and peered over him.

Green eyes softened. It was hard to believe the red-head had such a peaceful and angelic expression while asleep, and she let out a quiet giggle. Just then, Sasori shivered slightly in his sleep.

Guilt creeped up within Sakura. She hadn't thought how taking the bed could affect Sasori. She grabbed another spare blanket and gently placed it over him.

Oh! She could go make him breakfast! Sakura nodded to herself. Yes that would work. She glanced at the clock only to be left jaw dropping. It was already near three! Did she really sleep in that late?

Sakura quickly grabbed some clothing from the closet. She had unpacked her stuff last night, and ha decided with Sasori that they'd each have one half of the closet to hang their clothing.

Making her way to the bathroom, Sakura got changed into a clean outfit and glanced out the window. It didn't look that cold outside, so she grabbed a beige cardigan and slipped it on. She quickly made her way down stairs and was surprised see Sasori on the couch in his black pyjamas.

The red-head closed the magazine he was reading and glanced up at her.

"And where did you think you were going?"

"Well... I was going to head to the supermarket and buy some food for, lunch, looking at the time..."

Sasori frowned before sighing and getting up "I'll come with you"

Sakura blinked rapidly in surprise "Eh? What?"

"One of the teachers also live around the area and I bump into them at the supermarket quite often," Sasori stretched "so if I go with you and if she might be there, it might clear her suspicions"

"Oh! So is that why you order takeout a lot?" While exploring the kitchen yesterday she had found a lot of receipts for takeouts. She had found it confusing, especially when the red-head had all the necessary tools to cook food with, and they had all looked like then had been used before.

Sasori shrugged, "I guess, I've never been much of a cooking person anyways. I'll go get changed, then we can go and buy whatever you need" he slowly made his way upstairs.

The pinkette watched as he disappeared upstairs before moving to the entrance and grabbing her pair of shoes and putting them on.

She waited patiently, and let her mind wander.

I wonder what Sasori's parents are like, she thought, I don't see anything around in the house... Speaking of which, there's hardly anything in this house.

Sasori came down a few minutes later and sat down besides Sakura, putting on his shoes.

Her cheek heated up at how close her pretend husband was. Just shuffle a bit and they would be leaning!

He glanced at her "What are you staring at?"

Sakura quickly looked away "Nothing! Nothing at all"

Sasori rose a brow, before getting up and putting on his black jacket.

"Lets go then, stop daydreaming"

The pink-haired woman frowned at him and quickly got up

"I wasn't daydreaming, Akasuna-san" she defended.

"Sasori"

"Huh?" Sakura tilted her head in confusion.

"Just call me Sasori" The red-head opened the front door.

She could feel the heat rushing up to her cheeks. They've known each other for such a short while and they're alread on first name basis...

"W-why?"

"Because what sort of wife calls her husband by their last name?" He deadpanned.

Whatever Sakura was feeling was replaced by a sense of disappointment. Wait, why was she disappointed?

They got out of the house and locked the doors.

Lucky for them, there was a supermarket nearby, so it didn't take too long for them to reach there.

Sakura was relieved, she honestly couldn't stand the heavy silence that hung around in the air during the walk.

So as soon as they reached their destination, she rushed in immediately, grabbed a basket and went to get her items.

"Hmm, let me see... I could make Udon for dinner. Oh! The carrots look nice too..." Sakura picked up the carrots and placed it in the plastic basket.

Sasori peered into the basket with a grimace, dislike clear on his face and Sakura noticed, "You don't like carrots?"

He quickly stood straight, "I don't see why you need to buy it"

"It's good for you!" Sakura retorted.

The red-head mumbled something under his breath and turned away.

She smiled to herself, she never imagined someone like Sasori would hate something like carrots, she found it cute, and let out a giggle which she didn't manage to stifle in time thus resulting in her receiving a glare.

After picking out the things she needed from that section, Sakura headed over to the aisles. Not noticing how Sasori had seemed to tense besides her.

Suddenly, while she was browsing though the content on the shelfs, arms were placed on either side of her and the pinkette spun around quickly, only to see Sasori facing her extremely closely.

"E-eh?"

"Shh..."

And Sakura couldn't do anything but stare as Sasori slowly leaned in forwards. Her mind was telling her to move, to get away, but she couldn't find the will to move.

The gap between them slowly closed, and the only thing Sakura could hear was her sped up beating heart.

* * *

**Haha, is that a good enough cliff-hanger?**

**Sorry if this chapter was shorter than usual, but I was incredibly busy this whole week, sorry guys. **

**And thanks to all those who reviewed, it warms my heart 3**


	5. Chapter 5: Storming Off

**Naruto or any of the characters do not belong to me.**

**If you don't like SasoSaku, I warn you, turn away.**

* * *

When the red-head's lips were just inches away from Sakura's lips, a voice rang out with urgency.

"Akasuna-san!"

Suddenly, Sasori leaned back, and glanced at the owner of the voice.

"Hello, Baki-san"

The said man glared at him through his visible eye "Please hold your urges until you're home. We cannot let the parents of the students see this kind of display, especially by teachers!"

"I apologise, but I love my wife too much to keep my hands off her" Sasori said nonchalantly.

Baki frowned "Then try to keep your hands of her until you're home, you're wife isn't comfortable with it either" he put an emphasis on 'wife'.

The red-head glanced at Sakura, and she was sure she caught him glaring at her, even if it was just for a second.

Sakura gulped and waved nervously at the turban head-geared man, even though her mind was still in, well, an enormous frenzy.

Baki didn't even glance at her, narrowing his eyes at Sasori, he turned and simply went.

As soon as he was out of sight, the wheels in Sakura's head clicked, and she shoved Sasori away from her.

"W-what was that?" She demanded.

Sasori glanced at her with annoyance "Didn't you see him? That was a teacher at the academy. It was a perfect chance to prove-"

"To prove you're married! Is that all you care about? I'm not some object you can just flaunt around!"

He glared at her "It's you job," he hissed at her "And shut up! You're making a scene!"

It's true, half of the people in the market were watching them, some trying to be discreet about it while the others just stood there and stared.

"I don't care! I'm a human! I have feelings too, you can't just try to kiss me like that!" Sakura snapped.

"I didn't even kiss you!" He exasperated, before looking down slyly at her "Or are you just disappointed that I didn't?"

Sakura froze, was she disappointed that Sasori didn't kiss her? Why would she be?

Noticing her silence, the red-head looked at her with surprise, "You did?"

"No!" She snarled as she slammed the basket in his chest "You despicable jerk!"

The pinkette whirled around, and stormed out of the market, leaving Sasori to stare after her.

Just then, an old woman slowly hobbled past and shook her head as she muttered something which Sasori barely caught.

"Young mens these days... They still have no respect for a woman's feelings..."

* * *

"How could he?" Sakura crushed the paper cup that was in her hand, spilling hot chocolate onto her lap, but the pinkette didn't flinch as she glared at the fluffy white rug on the floor.

Her blonde friend sighed, "You know Sakura, I've listened to you complaining for the last thirty minutes and I didn't catch a thing you said," Yamanaka Ino took a sip of her own beverage "maybe you should calm down and start from the beginning"

Sakura took a deep breath before giving Ino a sickly sweet smile and the paper cup was crushed even more.

"But Ino, I am calm"

If Ino was any random stranger, she would have fled for her dear life. But no, she had been through much more with Sakura, and she wasn't going to run.

"Tell me, Sakura"

The two engaged in a staring contest, before Sakura sighed and opened her mouth reluctantly to speak.

"Well... It started like this..."

* * *

"And so she stormed out of the market, yeah?"

Sasori shrugged, flipping through the pages of a folder that was in his hands.

Deidara sighed as he ran a hand through his hair,

"You need her or else you can't get through to the bottom of that case"

Sasori clicked his teeth as he looked up at he blue-eyed male.

"It's because of the case why I reacted the way I did. I shouldn't be the one apologising. It is her job anyways"

"If you treat her that way she won't cooperate, yeah! And does she even know what you really are getting her involved in?" Deidara demanded.

The red-head closed his eyes and sighed in exasperation, ignoring Deidara, but the younger male persisted.

"Well, yeah?"

When Sasori did not reply, Deidara persisted to question him, and the brown-eyed male finally broke.

"No! Now shut up, you brat"

Deidara looked upon him in triumph, before realising what he said.

"Why didn't you tell her, yeah? Did you know she could get killed?"

"Of course I know! But if I put that on the job description 'warning: you may be killed', who would apply?" Sasori retorted.

The blond was silent, before finally speaking up again.

"Is it that important, yeah? _Just_ to find out who killed your parents, yeah?"

Sasori glared "You wouldn't know... The case was just so abruptly closed..." He clenched his fists "...I just want to know, why they left me..."

Deidara's eyes softened, before he quickly cleared his throat, "Well! You can't do that without Sakura, yeah! So I'm going to go find her, yeah!" And with that, he quickly left the room.

Sasori sighed as he flipped through the folders again.

'Politician Akasuna Kaoru and his wife Akasuna Masako were flying home from Mizugakure when their plane suddenly exploded during their flight. What caused this accident is still unknown, but the police are looking into it. However, no information was given out to the public'

Sasori frowned before turning to another page.

'Akasuna Kaoru, reason of death: two shots to the head and two stab wounds in the abdomen.

Akasuna Masako, reason of death: strangulation, shot in leg and shoulders'

* * *

"And so now you're married to the guy, well, fake marriage but married basically"

Sakura nodded.

Ino blinked rapidly, slowly processing the information before letting out a shriek.

"What were you thinking, Sakura? If you were in such a desperate need of money, you should have come to me or your parents!"

The pinkette shook her head "No! I can't just be a free loader! And if you don't remember, I was kicked out of home by my mother! What will they think if I just come back for money?"

Ino sighed and brushed her bangs to the side.

They were interrupted by the ringtone of Sakura's phone.

"Sorry!" Sakura's hand went into the pocket of her jeans to fish out the pink cellphone.

"Hello? Oh, Deidara-san! What, I should go back...?"

Ino shook her head quickly and making motions with her hands, signifying that Sakura should refuse. However, Sakura did the opposite.

"Ok, you tell him I'll be back in about fifteen minutes, and no, he doesn't need to pick me up."

With that, Sakura closed her cellphone an it up "Thanks for the drink and company, Ino, but I'll be going now!"

Ino stared as Sakura left her flat. The cornflower blue eyes woman snorted and sighed. She saw it all, the look of defeat on Sakura's face when she said she was going back and the fake cheeriness when she said goodbye.

Ino could only pray for the month to fly by, so Sakura could get the money, and finally would the restrained bird be able to fly.

* * *

**This chapter took longer to update because I wrote little bits of it each day, and I keep telling myself, "I'll do it today" and end up forgetting. I tend to this A LOT -_-**

**Ok. So this is a slightly more serious chapter? I don't know man, but I'm not entirely happy with the way this turned out, and I don't have any excuses for that. There might be lots of typos and wrong grammar here and there, but I checked it as much as I could. I sucked at proof-reading anways. T_T**

**THANKS SO MUCH TO ALL THOSE WHO REVIEWED, LOVES AND KISSES! PLEASE DON'T STOP ANYTIME SOON 3**


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